


Scream Me A Lullaby

by birdsandivory



Category: Voltron: Legendary Defender
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Shatt, Some Fluff, also smooches, and honestly this is pretty cute and funny, halloween fic, haunted house au, im sorry, mostly hysterics, pidge and the gang are sneaky, shiro and matt are ghost hunters, there are bad puns in this, too much hilarity
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-10-31
Updated: 2018-10-31
Packaged: 2019-08-08 18:12:48
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,951
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16434347
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/birdsandivory/pseuds/birdsandivory
Summary: Matt and Shiro are filming an episode of their up and coming Ghost Hunters series and things don't exactly go as planned.Happy Halloween, everyone!





	Scream Me A Lullaby

**Author's Note:**

> So, I went ahead and wrote this as part of the #shattsundaychallenge for the month of October on Tumblr! It was super fun and I had a great time, especially because I love and adore Matt Holt with every fiber of my being. 
> 
> I hope you all enjoy!

_Clack!_

“Ow! My leg!” 

_Thump!_

“...I knew this was a bad idea.” Dropping the camera from his line of sight, Shiro turns to his boyfriend some feet behind him, one knee to the ground as he rubs at his ankle. It’s plain to see that he took a hard fall, but the cameraman can’t help the mirthful sigh that escapes his lips as he trots over to him, wrapping a hand around the other’s bicep. “Can you stand?”

“This is just a scratch — mm,  _ow_.” Matt presses heavily into his side as he makes his way up onto his own two feet, exclamations so simultaneously playful and believable, that the man’s not really sure whether he should be concerned or amused. “Shiro, hold me!”

Rolling his eyes seems like a good start.

“We should go back.” He says lowly, steadying Matt before dusting off decade-old dust bunnies from the front of the other’s green sweater. “There are sharp objects here and you’re clumsy.”

“No!” The sudden pull at his side nearly has Shiro dropping their equipment bag, but he’s quick and his reflexes save them a few thousand dollars as he looks to an apologetic face before determination swiftly replaces it, Matt’s hands throwing themselves into the wild gestures he uses while he talks. “We are sitting on a supernatural goldmine, Shiro — a _ghost_ mine!”

Lips pressing into a thin line at the pun, he shakes his head in response. “The Garrison Medical Institute isn’t even a hundred years abandoned.”

“Ghosts don’t just wait until a building is a century old to move in, babe.” The man quips, and though he’s technically correct, Shiro doesn’t have the heart to tell him that a structure still housing a working generator and a painted parking lot isn’t exactly a place that gives them the ‘scare factor.’ Instead, he watches as shaky legs hobble over a bit of rubble to the nearest observation room entrance, barely able to be seen without the night vision enabled on their camera. “Trust me, I’m — ow — fine.”

“Well, alright.” Sighing, he lifts the lens back over his eye, allowing fifteen pounds of circuitry to rest on his shoulder — trying not to cringe at the sight of a spider spinning a web in the corner above Matt’s head. “Let’s just… get this over with.”

“Scared?”

Shiro smiles at the challenge, taking a few steps forward to brush past him. “You wish.”

The set up for their episode ends up being pretty small; the examination rooms aren’t overly large for a medical building in such a tiny town — but it’s enough to fit a couple of reflectors on their old tripods, along with Shiro’s laptop, without disturbing any of the beds and tables. Matt seems preoccupied with the rusted tools on one of the benches by the time he’s finished setting everything up, looking particularly fond of an old scalpel. It reminds him of the vintage syringes and vials his partner enjoys collecting, and he’s sure it’ll be pocketed for his collection before they leave.

“Everything’s ready, Matt.”

The other drops the knife with a clink, embarrassed for no real reason as he moves toward the cameraman, taking the recorder that’s offered to him with a grin. “I can’t believe we’re doing this. We’ll finally look like real ghost hunters after this one, I know it.”

“You bet.” Nothing strikes his fancy more than Matt’s excitement, a hand reaching up to pat gently at the man’s spotted cheek, affectionately so — and Shiro smiles when he leans into it. “Now, center stage, okay? It’s almost midnight.”

With a nod and recorder in hand, all gangly limbs and mussed hair limps over to the middle of the room, straightening his posture as he looks to Shiro for the ‘all clear.’ And when it’s given, he lifts three fingers, quietly counting down for the camera — taking a deep breath once he knows it’s rolling. “We are here at the Garrison Mental Health Institute, hoping to communicate with those whom have passed under the care of Doctor Iverson. Now, rumors suggest that, while the doctor was alive…”

Shiro thinks his voice is calmer than he would have anticipated, but it still harbors the same interest and passion as it always does, and with each word the other speaks — there’s a part of him that wishes something would pop up and really give him a scare, something that would make the whole trip worth it for him. Matt had been trying for weeks to film a successful ghost hunt, and though they had a good time wherever they went, it is easy to tell that he was getting more and more disheartened with each failure.

“If there are any spirits who wish to speak, please give us a sign that you are present.”

He pans the camera slowly, attempting to catch each and every movement within the room, to catch something that won’t end up shaking his boyfriend’s beliefs; it’s still, though, nothing detected but Matt’s bated breaths and the clicking of the camera reel in his ear. He sees two frantic hands roll up the sleeves of a thick sweater, eyes glowing a hazardous green as they look into the lens.

“Okay, let’s cut that and try something different.” Stepping away from his spot square-center, he moves to stand by one of the broken windows instead, the ambiance shifting just slightly — and Shiro agrees that it makes for a better scene. “One more time.”

Once again, Matt begins his introduction, this time with a bit more gusto — and it reels Shiro in from behind the camera, but even with the shift in position and new energy he’s bringing, there’s nothing of note happening in the immediate area. He ignores the way the other’s face falls, but he goes along with yet another change of pace that his partner suggests, hoping that something gives for all the work and hopes he’s put into the project.

“Send us a sign! We are here to listen to your stories.”

Standing with his arms spread open, there’s a moment of silence in which Shiro believes a paranormal event might just happen, the air tepid and unsettling. But after a minute or two of filming the other, he sees Matt’s hands fall to his sides, lips curling downward in disappointment.

Reaching up, he stops the recording, removing the camera from his arm and setting it neatly on the floor beside him as he takes a seat on one of the cots — looking up with a sympathetic smile. “This was a dead end.”

“... Yeah,” there’s a sigh, “I guess we’ll never get this show up and running.”

Matt moves away from the middle of the room, turning the recorder off as he sits on the bed next to Shiro, dust clouding around them from the impact of his weight. And he thinks it would have been funny if the man didn’t look so down in the dumps about not getting the ghostly footage he was hoping for. Brows frowning slightly, lips pressing together, he places a tender hand atop the folded fingers upon the ghost hunter’s lap. “I’m sorry, Matt. I know this is something you really wanted.”

The other smiles, pressing closer until his head can rest comfortably on Shiro’s shoulder. “It’s okay. I got to spend more time with you because of it, so, it’s fine.”

Hearing those words makes him go soft, and he wraps an arm around the leading man, kissing into his messy hair as they held together in grime that’s been piling for a number of years. It doesn’t last, however, because suddenly, the air grows colder around them both — but he only mentions it when he hears teeth chattering. “It’s freezing in here.”

Matt nods in agreement, hugging his arms around his own body as he takes a look around, the room too dark to make out much; a figure darting across the room catches the corner of his eye, nevertheless, and he sits up ramrod straight. Swatting a hand at Shiro’s chest as he tries to detect the anomaly once more, he points ahead once he’s gotten the other’s attention.

“What was  _that_?”

“What was what?” Following Matt’s line of sight, he sees the racing shadow cross before them again, going rigid in his seat. “I see it! What  _is_  that?”

“Shiro, quick, the camera!”

Reacting immediately, Shiro stands, reaching down to pick up the device when he’s pulled by the ankle — leaving him tumbling to the ground and scrambling to get back up and away from the bed, camera be damned. “S-Something grabbed me!”

“Oh my God,  _perfect_!” Matt’s thrilled howls are lost in a sudden gust that blows several sheets from the cots surrounding them, and as he looks to the source, a large, looming figure rises from the corner of the room. “Wait, what’s  _that_?!”

There’s no answer on anyone’s part, the mass traveling slowly throughout the black room, throwing itself into part of their stage — and Shiro panics once he sees that their light stand is toppling over. “The tripod!”

“Ahh!” Jumping at the sound of the reflectors crashing to the ground, Matt reaches up and shoves his fingers into his hair, unable to properly mourn the loss of his equipment. “Not perfect! Not perfect!”

A rattling from beside Shiro catches his attention, the cot he’s  _now_  standing before vibrating against his leg, the movement becoming more aggressive the longer he waits idle; with shuddering fright, he backs away, the darkness surrounding him making it hard to see anything but absent silhouettes. “The beds are shaking!”

Matt doesn’t bother stopping to look, stumbling right into a group of tool benches, scalpels and syringes and forceps clattering to the ground. The only thing that brings him back from his mindless frenzy is the feeling of something sharp sinking into his forearm, making him flinch away and fling himself wildy into another exam table.

“Ow! S-Something just bit me!” Turning sharply away from the many rolling stands he’s pressed against, he holds his wrist, colliding with a wide body as his screams breach the madness. It takes him just a second to realize who it is. “S-Shiro?”

“Run, Matt! Run!”

“I can’t!” He looks to Shiro with a watery frown, grasping the front of his jacket, voice meek. “My leg.”

In a last dodge effort to get out, the taller man bends to grab for Matt’s knees, hoisting him over his shoulder and ignoring the shouts of protest — or perhaps fear, he can’t exactly tell the difference — booking it down the hallway and to the nearest exit. He bumps his partner into several wayward bed curtains, but he’s sure the other is too busy screaming for his lost camera to notice.

And when they’re finally out of sight, the examination room is in chaos no more. 

From the shadows of darkness, round spectacles glint, an amused voice piercing the silence as the room is illuminated by means of a flashlight. “Hunk, did you get all that?”

The click of a button resonates along with a hearty laugh, and a burly figure emerges from behind long drapes, all smiles and chuckles; he gives a thumbs up. “All of it.”

“Lance?”

An arm pops up from beneath one of the beds, apparatus in hand. “Recorded for podcasts, Pidge. And also, tell your brother to wear better tasting moisturizer.”

“I can’t believe you bit him,” Hunk chimes in.

The laughter of three fills the air, echoing off the walls of the empty asylum as Pidge steps over to the forgotten camera lying on the floor, picking it up to inspect the damage.

“Matthew Holt, you picked the wrong day to steal my Panasonic.”

**Author's Note:**

> Come scream with me on Tumblr! I am [birdsandivory](http://birdsandivory.tumblr.com).


End file.
